Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Dislocated Shoulder

Anyone ever forced to hike with a dislocated shoulder? I've got quite a story but taking me some time to get my wits together to write about it.

Ouch! Yes we want to read your story.

While hiking up to Hidden Canyon in Zion I encountered a woman struggling down the trail. She asked if I was a doctor, said she had dislocated her shoulder. Alas I could not help her. I'm guessing she slipped while holding onto one of the chains.

I've posted somewhat of a trip report. One of the funny sidenotes to the trip is that the trail had mileage markers up until Mile 4 and then they inexplicably stop. The joke was that 5th mile sure was tough!

But around the 4 mile mark we finally saw some other hikers. Every single one I would ask do you have any medical experience with dislocated arms? The answer was always no and I would say thanks and just keep on walking. I left my buddies to explain what was going on because I just needed to keep moving.

Well, the week before my Whitney hike this past week my left arm started to hurt. I think it was left over stress from my last Yosmeite trip.

Heck of a time to start to get pains before a huge hike up Whitney. Got some prescription ibuprofen from my doctor to control it and only had to take one pill on the morning of the first day of my 3 day hike. Ironically, no soreness in the arm during the rest of the hike. Other body parts... all new soreness.

That said, I was debating what I would do if the pain was worse before my hike started. Only need one arm for my hiking stick...